Alias: Rememberances
by shanejayell
Summary: Jessica Jones remembers one lost...


Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from the Marvel Comic Alias, the New Avengers or any other characters, I'm just borrowing them for awhile.

Alias: Reverberance

Jessica Jones hugged her husband, her brown hair falling into her eyes as she asked, "You going to be okay with the baby?"

Luke Cage nodded slightly, his eyes grave as the dusky skinned man answered, "It'll be fine." They walked together to one of the doors to Dr. Strange's hidden sanctuary as he said, "I can come along if you want...?"

Jessica smiled up at him, placing her hand on his cheek. "It's all right," she said, "I'm a retired super hero, and a small fry. It'd be bad publicity if Stark and his goons tried to snatch me up." She paused, "Besides... I need to do this."

Cage hugged her again, gently, "I know. Just be safe."

Jess didn't answer, instead gently kissing him goodbye.

Walking out of Greenwich village later that morning Jess hailed a taxi, carrying the bundle of wild flowers that she had purchased earlier. The cabbie seemed subdued as they drove, mentioning, "Quite a crowd today."

"I'd guess so," Jess agreed as they drove, looking out at the buildings going by them.

"You a relative, or...?" he asked, looking up at his rear view mirror to see her face as he drove expertly through the press of traffic.

"Friend," Jess admitted as traffic began to slow. A few minutes later they were nearly crawling along and she sighed softly. "Do you think I could get out here?" she asked.

A bit disappointed at losing a bit more fare, he nodded. "No prob," he eased them over to the side and rang up the fare. Handing her the change he hesitated then said, "I'm sorry."

"Me too," Jess agreed as she got out.

Lower Manhattan was a bustling place, cars driving and horns honking, but as Jess walked the noise seemed to fall away, gradually decreasing as she grew nearer to the spot. The massive damage had been mostly cleared, the land prepared and the construction of the Freedom Tower was ongoing, but to Jess this would always be one thing.

The site of the World Trade Center.

Like many of the people gathered today she walked in the area around the site, then went to a makeshift memorial someone had set up to one side, flowers and other items left there like they had in past years.

An older man set down a teddy bear, the animal cute in a rumpled sort of way. He felt Jess eyes on him and smiled slightly. "My son was a fire fighter," he said quietly, "he always liked these. I'd buy him a different one every year."

"It's very nice," Jess agreed as she set the flowers down. She looked out over the hole as she said, "My friend worked in one of the towers..."

Giving her a kindly glance he asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

'Did she?' Jess wondered. "She was a government officer..."

What Jess didn't say, couldn't explain as she talked was the background. A lot of it was tied to the terrible time in which she had been recovering from mind control in SHIELD care, living on one of their bases and working with Jean Grey. In the middle of a doomed affair with SHIELD agent Clay Quarterman she had met her, working in the medical center.

Emily Jordan Keladry had been a medical tech at SHIELD when Jess was there, and they had struck up a friendship. Emily spent time with Jess in between treatments, brought her paperbacks and had been a much needed connection to a world away from superhumans, madmen and craziness.

After she left SHIELD care Jess lost touch with Emily, exchanging only the occasional phone call and letter. One of the last times Emily called she had been excited that she was coming back to New York. It seemed she was being transferred to a SHIELD monitoring station in the city, one based in the north tower of the World Trade Center.

"What happened to your friend?" he asked gently when she trailed off her edited account of their meeting.

"I talked to a few witnesses after," Jess stuck her hands in her pockets, "Emily didn't leave, she stayed to help evacuate others."

"She sounds like a brave woman."

"Yes, she was," Jess agreed, silently adding, 'and a lonely one.'

When Jess was invited to her funeral by Clay she was shocked to see only a few SHIELD agents attending. It seemed that Emily's family were dead and she had been without romantic ties, driven only by her work. Talking to Clay and the others at a impromptu wake afterwards she was surprised to hear how important she had been in Emily's life, the woman even keeping a photo of her.

Now, each anniversary Jess came here to remember her, and to wonder what might have been between Emily and herself. If she hadn't been so wounded when they met, could that have had a deeper friendship? Had Emily hoped they could be more than friends? Jess Didn't know, would never know.

All she was left with was memories and regrets.

End

Notes: Emily is a creation of my imagination, assisted by the crew of at mediaminer dot org. Thanks for naming her, guys. My knowledge of New York geography is purely defined by books, so if I've really blundered, let me know.


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